Friday, April 30, 2010

A year after the publication of his mammoth debut novel, The Warded Man, super skilled thumbtyper Peter V. Brett is back with the second installment in his series that features demons in a setting that should satisfy readers of both fantasy and novels of the paranormal.

In The Desert Spear (Del Rey) humanity as we know it is almost a thing of the past when Ahmann Jardir rides out of the desert with a spear and crown and proclaims himself The Deliverer and an enemy of The Warded Man.

I do not know if The Desert Spear was written on a Blackberry during the author's daily commute to work, as was The Warded Man, but I somehow doubt it. With The Warded Man sold into 14 countries and optioned for film it seems possible that Brett’s writing gear is better and his commute probably a lot shorter. He remains prolific, though: The Desert Spear is a luscious 608 pages and Del Rey is promising at least one more book in the series and hopes for “many more beyond that.”

Meanwhile, if you missed The Warded Man altogether, Del Rey delivered the first paperback edition last month.

This is an epic and highly readable story. It seems likely this author will take his place among the most important writers in his part of the genre.